VMware
Windows & Linux: Dual Drive Dual Boot
Windows & Linux: Dual Drive Dual Boot
#Windows #Linux #Dual #Drive #Dual #Boot
“ExplainingComputers”
How to set up a dual drive dual boot, with Windows on one drive, Linux on the other, and the BIOS boot menu used to select between them. Video also demonstrates a single drive dual boot setup.
The Linux distro shown in this video is Linux Mint 21, which I cover in a video…
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Always use dedicated/separate drives. Always. And never install Linux on the drive while the other/Windows drive is on. Especially if you are new. You will notice that Windows will keep setting the BIOS time clock to your current timezone instead of UTC, and Linux will keep setting it to UTC as it should be. That means every time you boot to Windows you will need to change your clock again. There is a hack for this on Windows.
There is a way to install linux on usb connected drive. How to perform this install without messing windows drive. So finally after install ubuntu starts only when usb drive is connected and if disconnected windows starts normall. Can this instalation be done without disconnecting windows drive?
Very clear explanation. Thank you.
Wow this is good i didnt realize to remove windows m2 first. I have the same set up using an older ssd i took out of a laptop as my ubuntu mate drive. I dont mind grub but windows 11 wnd its pesky restart to update means is occasionally find my pc just randomly in linux becuase it rebooted
that was a lot of rebooting
Thanks, excellent teaching, GOD bless you, this has been very helpful.
I thought you had to shrink the Windows partition from Windows first, or am I wrong.
Always wondered what was the best option to dual boot into Windows and Linux, but now I know!!!! dual drives! and removing windows drive during installation!!!
Please do audbile books! Your voice is outstanding
Nice, Thank you again!
I find these tutorials amazing.
Straightforward, Covering everything necessary and straight to the point.
Appreciate it <3
I did the two NVME SSD install but, i installed with both drives in and chose to install the boot loader on the Linux drive. The result is the computer defaults directly to windows. I only see grub if I select the boot loader and select the second drive. Best part is, If I remove the Lynux drive, it has no impact on the windows drive.
Any way to have the bootloader installed in the linux ssd using method b?
Thank you!
Fedora better
8:43 I used this method and the rufus program. The type of disk is NVMe. Two systems: Windows 7 (hdd) and Windows 10 (NVMe). Whether to install the system with MBR or GPT boot should be decided by rufus. As it turns out, the Windows 10 installer decides at the end. After the installation, I check and I have GPT on NVMe and it should be MBR and that's probably where my booting problems came from. You can boot both systems normally but without data disks. When all disks are plugged in every time at startup Chkdsk scans all disks and I have to skip it.
Thank you for the great tutorial! Would Method A dual boot, dual drive work with dual boot Windows 10 and Windows 11 installed on separate drives or there would be a problem with such setup?
btw method A is safer
Thank you for sharing
again, awesome
I just bought a brand new computer; a Thinkpad E16, Gen 1 and wanted to install a Linux distro. I didn't get anywhere, it wouldn't let me into the BIOS or boot menu from a cold start no matter what key or combination of keys I pressed. I could enter the BIOS from Windows but that's totally unsatisfactory if you want to install another operating system. Also I disabled secure boot but then ran into a whole lot of trouble with a blank screen and just some small text pointing to a Microsoft web address where I had to type in a 48 key password to reset the system. The page kept on reloading rapidly making it very hard to obtain all the numbers, so I took a snapshot with my phone. I ended up returning the computer and decided to use an old ASUS from 2014. Maybe the days of the Linux desktop are numbered…
Practicle and very useful. Thanks for the video!
thanks!
Your tutorials are the best!
Just starting to watch the video, appreciate the instructions. Is there any particulars to doing it the other way around?, I already have Linux installed on the main drive, and want to add Windows to the secondary drive?. Thanks!
I followed your instructions for dual drive, dual boot, and it works like a charm. I have a Dell machine, so, I just hit F12, to get to the boot choice screen, and choose which one U want, Windows 10 will boot by default. I'm dual booting MX Linux, and Windows 10. Thank you.
i have windows 10 and linux cinnamon dual boot. when i clone the hard drive in window s 10 will it liad the linux cinnamon?
Probably many cheap W10 PCs will be for sale in fall 2025. I might buy a $50 or $75 eBay Dell desktop & a new hard drive for Linux. Then use my KVM switch for Linux PC & my 2012 W10 Dell desktop.
Had a 2000 Dell triple-boot desktop once (98se-2000-xp); now it's dual-boot (98se-2000 for games). Also had a $60 eBay P4 Gateway desktop (Linux) for a few years, until it went to the recycler. Multiple OS on one PC can be a pain in the neck.
I setup Kubuntu using option B, however, I've found that the drive which it is installed on never shows up in the BIOS on a cold start. Only my windows drive is listed. I need to boot into Windows first, restart the system, then hit F12 to enter the BIOS and only then will my Linux SSD drive show up. Sometimes, even after i get into the Grub bootloader after having done all of that, Kubuntu fails to start and I get a Kernel error. If I hard reset my desktop after that, either it goes back to Windows immediately, or, it somehow boots straight to the grub menu! No idea what is happening…
All that being said, when I do manage to get into Kubuntu (after enough boot cycles…), everything works fine…
Hi there. Your tutorials are very usefull. But I'm not supposed to find any tutorial if is possible and safe update Win 10 to Win 11 if I already have dual boot pc with Linux Mint. Is it possible for you to make some tutorial for this option?
Ok, so I can't remove drives physically, I'll use the method B.
1. I install Windows first to a drive.
2. I boot Linux USB and install it to the other one?
Also, another question: I want to install vanilla Arch and build a desktop environment from scratch. I will follow an Arch installation guide for that.
But how do I make sure I'm selecting the correct drive? It doesn't have a GUI installer.
I did a dual-drive dual-boot on my Alienware (R.I.P.) and it would remember which drive I booted to last. This came in handy when updating Windows as I did not need to be there when it inevitably rebooted on its own. Note I also temporarily removed the data drive when I installed Debian.
It is possible that dual boot dual hdd with Windows11 installed using uefi and linux on other hdd installed using mbr(legacy mode) work with f12 key (installed each os independent… Removing one drive)…but is it possible to use grub (your last option…) with one uefi and one mbr hdd?
Can you briefly explain the settings that need to be turned off in the BIOS before LINUX can even be installed on a previously Windows-based system? I believe this is normally Fast Boot and Secure Boot, correct? Most LINUX distros won't even install until those two settings are first turned off in the BIOS, correct. However, once you turn those off, aren't you making your Windows installation less secure by doing so? Will Windows still even boot properly if Secure Boot is disabled in BIOS? Note here that this is why most people don't even bother doing any type of dual boot: it's just too big of a pain all the way around with too many ways for it to all go wrong and end in frustration. Also, even if you do it all right, your particular distro still might not even boot properly at all when you're done. To avoid all of this, most will simply just install their distros into a VM app like VirtualBox where all of those types of problems are avoided entirely.
dear sir, you are truly worth your weight in gold! tyvm for this and all the other linux videos
Thanks, I think I'll do Duel Drive Method 1 but in my case I have Linux and will be giving Windows it's own Drive
Thanks for the informative video!
Putting Linux on its own drive with the others disconnected during installation definitely seems like the safest option without really sacrificing convenience.
Would deactivating the windows ssd in bios settings work aswell, instead of having to remove or unplug it?
is it possible on laptop?
Everything looks nice. Unfotunatelly on most computers in my computer room Ubuntu didn't see Windows installed and I simply don't have the option "Install Linux alongside Windows Boot Manager" . What is the reason?